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When Liberal MP Julia Banks quit the Morrison government in 2018, her resignation was cited as an example of how hostile the political environment can be towards women.

But Banks’ story and her resignation happened to coincide with a landmark report: Respect@Work.

That report, and the changes it recommended, languished on the desk of the former government. But reform is now finally coming into effect and, in theory, should change the workplace for women.

Today, former politician Julia Banks, on the report she watched be pushed aside, and her hope that this year it’s finally going to change our workplaces for the better.

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Guest: Former Liberal MP and the author of Power Play, Julia Banks.

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George Pell’s body is returning to Australia after last weekend’s funeral service in the Vatican. He will be interred in the crypts below St Mary’s Cathedral in Sydney.

To his supporters, Pell was a guardian of traditional faith and doctrine, whose conviction on charges of child sexual abuse was overturned by the High Court.

To thousands of survivors of child sexual abuse perpetrated by priests across Australia, Pell was the leader who oversaw an era when the Church moved too slowly, and protected itself rather than children.

Today, freelance investigative journalist and the author of a book about the trial of George Pell, Fallen, Lucie Morris-Marr on Pell and the questions left for thousands of survivors after his death.

If this episode has raised issues for you, for support you can contact Blue Knot on 1300 657 380 and The Survivors and Mates Support Network on 1800 472 676.

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Guest: Author of Fallen: The inside story of the secret trial and conviction of Cardinal George Pell, Lucie Morris-Marr.

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This year Peter Dutton has begun to spread doubt about the Voice to Parliament. His question is: where’s the detail?

One woman has spent years fleshing out the proposal. Marcia Langton co-authored a report on The Voice, and briefed every party room in Canberra about what the model could look like.

Today, Professor at the University of Melbourne Marcia Langton on the details of the Voice to Parliament, and what’s at stake if Australia gets this moment wrong.

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Guest: Foundation Chair of Australian Indigenous Studies at the University of Melbourne, Professor Marcia Langton.

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Elon Musk has lost more money than any human being who has ever lived.

It’s not because of his purchase of Twitter – well, not directly, anyway. It’s because in the last 12 months, the share price of his other company, Tesla, has plummeted.

But why is Elon Musk, the erratic entrepreneur, so intertwined with Tesla? How has the company become an extension of one man’s ideas? And is that healthy?

Today, veteran Tesla-watcher and financial journalist, Antony Currie, on the unshakeable faith in Elon.

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Guest: Financial journalist for Reuters, Antony Currie.

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On this Weekend Read, chief political correspondent for the ABC’s 7.30 program Laura Tingle, with her piece from the summer issue of The Monthly.

It’s called ‘A patch of land’, and in it she writes of the joys of tending and surrendering herself to a native garden, before bidding it a fond farewell after nearly 20 years.

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Guest: Chief political correspondent for the ABC’s 7.30 program, Laura Tingle

Background Reading: A Patch of Land

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Australia’s domestic security agency, ASIO, says right-wing extremism now makes up half of its priority cases. And the far right, while still fringe, has capitalised on division and social media to push its message during the pandemic.

So just how big a risk is this movement today? And how did we allow this discredited and dangerous ideology to get a foothold once again?

Author Lydia Khalil discusses how counter-terrorism turned a blind eye to the far -right and how we all need to solve that problem.

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When we talk about the most significant events of the last year, the one that might have the biggest impact on humanity actually took place far above the Earth’s atmosphere.

Up there, in orbit around earth, is one of the most powerful tools humans have ever had to hunt for the origins of our universe – and for alien life.

The James Webb Space Telescope has the ability to look so far and with such clarity that we can get an insight into a period of time that our best scientists have only ever speculated about: the cosmic dark ages.

Today, Director of the Space Technology and Industry Institute at Swinburne University, Dr Alan Duffy on why the last year marked a new beginning for our understanding of the universe.

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Each year, around a million Australians visit the US . But it's becoming a more dangerous place: firearm murders alone increased by 35% between 2019 and 2020. 

But you won’t find that statistic in the guidance for Australians travelling to the US. And it’s a risk that disproportionately affects people of colour.

Today, author and contributor to The Monthly, Santilla Chingaipe on the travel guidance we rely on for our safety and what it tells us about how race functions in bureaucratic definitions of Australianess.

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Misinformation, fear and pain: when Andrew Denton was asked to speak on the topic of euthanasia, he found something that he couldn’t look away from.

What started as a single lecture became the biggest political fight of his life.

And the last year has seen the fruit of those labours, with every state now having laws to allow people the right to choose to end their life when faced with terminal illness. The territories are well on their way to doing the same.

Go Gentle Australia, the organisation he founded, helped change the tide of a debate around death that had been paralysed in Australia for decades.

Today, Andrew Denton, on the campaign that changed how Australians will experience the end of their lives and the way it’s changing the care we receive at the end.

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Today, on the Weekend Read, writer and artist Sarah Walker with her piece, “Little Breaks”, from The Monthly.

It’s a story of joy and sadness in the ocean. 

She writes of her time in the water as a beginner surfer, finding glee in shallow breaks. 

But beyond the break, in the deeper water, there’s also loneliness, isolation and vulnerability.

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Guest: Writer and artist, Sarah Walker

Background Reading: Little Breaks

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